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7 High Street, Pledgers, Ely
History of 7 High Street
Pledgers
In 1987 Audrey Denton published Recollections of Old Ely: Tales My Mother Told Me. This booklet contains a detailed account of the time her mother spent working at Pledgers prior to 1907, when she married.
Audrey Denton does not identify her parents my name so tracing them in official records of the time is tricky. However It seems that her father was William Rodgers, a chemist, born in Derby in 1883. Her mother was Lydia Ann Hart, b 1880 Cottenham. They married in Ely in 1907. Audrey Elisabeth was born in 1909.
It seems the family travelled a great deal so pinning them to a particular address in official records is difficult. It is certainly true from Audrey’s book that her father was a chemist. We also know from the account that her mother’s family name was Hart. But other locations at which she places the members of her family, such as a mother in Chittering, are difficult to prove.
From her book we can assume that her mother was working at Pledgers in Ely High Street at some time circa 1900 – 1907. She describes working conditions at Pledgers. a large drapery establishment. The staff from outside Ely lived in and we are told the names of some of them. Those from Ely lived at home.
She notes the demand for mourning clothes. When a mourning order was received all other orders were put aside. Some families seemed to spend all their time in mourning clothes.
After the marriage of William and Lydia, they seemed to have lived in St Mary’s Street, Ely. But by 1911 the family were boarding in Newton Abbot, Devon, where William was a chemist’s assistant.
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